These rich symbiont communities are capable of numerous metabolic processes in carbon and nitrogen cycles that expand the nutrient acquisition pathways of host invertebrates and contribute to coastal ecosystem functioning as bioreactors for nutrient transformations.

The disruption of these relationships may offer a sensitive indicator of environmental stress, as well as a host resilience mechanism via symbiont shuffling to maximize ecological fitness.

Modern genomic techniques allow for unprecedented access to the functioning and ecology of symbiotic microbes, including their capacity for producing novel marine natural products.

Research Agenda

My research projects couple modern genetic techniques (next generation sequencing) with field and aquaria experimentation to investigate the contribution of microbial symbionts to marine biodiversity, host ecology and coastal ecosystem processes. Key areas of study include:

STRUCTURE · Biodiversity and Specificity · Utilize the depth afforded by next generation sequencing platforms to examine biodiversity and specificity patterns of microbial symbionts and test hypotheses on their cosmopolitan or endemic nature and their dispersal capabilities.